Putting New Zealand on the map for young Americans

01 Dec 2014

New Zealand may soon be more than just a dream destination for many American students - thanks to a new partnership between Tourism New Zealand, Air New Zealand and online travel seller StudentUniverse.

New Zealand may soon be more than just a dream destination for many American students - thanks to a new partnership between Tourism New Zealand, Air New Zealand and online travel seller StudentUniverse.

The partnership launched with a campaign centred around two key elements - an online competition to generate interest in a New Zealand holiday, followed by the promotion of discount codes for Air New Zealand flights.

StudentUniverse ran the two-week competition in November, offering a student plus a friend a free trip to New Zealand as well as two spots on a North Island tour, giving them a taste of the high-adrenaline adventure activities that the country has to offer youth travellers.

Tourism New Zealand's General Manager Americas and Europe, Gregg Anderson, says New Zealand is the ideal place for youth travellers to have the experience of a lifetime - from enjoying adventure activities like bungy jumping, mountain biking and kayaking, to relaxing by our beautiful beaches.

"Our research tells us that youth travellers are searching for adventure, freedom and excitement - and whilst they might be on a more restricted budget, they have the potential to stay longer than other visitors and travel more widely while they are here.

"Campaigns like this are ideal for not only creating interest for New Zealand amongst the youth market - flight promo codes get them booking flights and therefore one step closer to embarking on their own New Zealand adventure", says Gregg.

'Five more from here', Tourism New Zealand's youth campaign launched earlier in the year, highlighting that in New Zealand you can pack in five amazing experiences in one day, and that's just the beginning.

'Five more from here' included the 5X1NZ stunt video featuring extreme athlete Chuck Berry completing five adrenalin-fuelled activities in one hour. The video has received more than 400,000 views across online channels to date.

The inclusion of Air New Zealand extends a successful partnership between Tourism New Zealand and StudentUniverse which resulted in a joint venture campaign in 2013, promoting New Zealand as a youth destination using social media, email campaigns and travel guides on the StudentUniverse website.

This proved very successful, with searches for flights to New Zealand seeing a 138 per cent increase (from 2012 to 2013), and bookings up 178 per cent (from 2012 to 2013) during the campaign period.

StudentUniverse offers discounted airfares to students and youth and is one of the world's largest student travel sellers.